Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot Pieeee

Ah, Chicken Pot Pie, what can be more traditionally American than this. Unfortunately, I do not come from a traditionally American family so I can't share any fond "mom baking chicken pot pie" memories (she makes a killer okonomiyaki tho).

It's a dish that always intrigued me. I mean, the idea of sticking a savory stew in a flaky pie crust? Ingenious! When I did try one it was a Pepperidge Farm frozen pot pie...which left my taste buds unenthused.

So, I decided to make one from scratch. Following a Cook's Illustrated recipe I overcame my trepidation of making pie crusts, pulled out the food processor and made some pie dough.

You put in how much butter? Oh my god, this crust is like 99% pure fat. Vodka?! Seriously? But that's what makes it so gooood.

For the filling I used a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. A very good site I highly recommend.

I divided the pot pie in to 4 small individual pies. The result was AWESOME. Almost makes me want to sing a little tune.

Na na na na na Banana Bread!

When life gives you mushy black bananas you make banana bread.

Sometimes I can't eat all my bananas in time so I freeze them to make this very delish quick bread.

This recipe is not the most low calorie but I've gotten good responses from it, so it's not just me that thinks it's yummy. Next time I'll try a low fat version and see how it compares.

Banana Bread Recipe:

8 servings. Approximately 300 calories per slice.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 1 1/2 cups of mashed over ripe bananas (about 3-4 bananas)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
1/2 cups of chopped walnuts optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray liberally.

Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar until creamy. Whisk in eggs, then add mashed banana and heavy cream, mix well.

In a separate bowl whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. (Make sure there are no clumps of baking soda or baking powder.)

Pour wet banana mixture onto the dry flour mixture. Add walnuts if desired.

This is the most important part DO NOT OVER MIX! Mix only for 10-15 seconds, by hand with spatula or whisk. Batter should be lumpy, streaks of flour in the batter is good. Lumpy batter will make the banana bread much more airy and rise higher.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until browned. Stick a toothpick in it, if it comes out clean it's done.

Cool the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and cool on rack completely.

Some people say banana bread tastes better if you wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit until the next day. Pfft, like I can wait that long. Enjoy!